*16 and 1/2 years ago*
Sam climbs out of the Impala, the door creaking shut behind him.
His legs drag wearily up the steps to the bar, and his tired eyes take a few seconds longer than they should have to adjust to the dim lighting.
Despite Beulah' sparse population and unbearable weather; the bar is packed to the gill.
Sam sighs.
Dealing with people had been especially hard lately.
He'd been on the road for nearly a month, slamming his way through Deans old haunts methodically; determined to find him if it was the last thing he did.
Dean had died -again- in the final battle, and come back as a demon. Despite the black eyes, he hacked away at the opposing force; standing by his brother's side until they reigned victorious.
As soon as the battle ended, Dean had vanished; leaving Sam alone to deal with the aftermath.
He knew that Dean was prone to being selfish when he was a demon, but staying gone this long without a single hint that he was even alive?
Unacceptable.
So Sam was on the job, doing his best to track down his ghost of a brother, and pump him full of human blood.
"Can I help you?" A pretty bartender casts her eyes at Sam curiously.
"I'm looking for Dean Winchester." He exhales, not bothering with formalities. "Or Anne Marie."
The bartenders face fell, and Sam saw tears well up in her eyes. "Ann Marie passed away, nearly seven months ago."
"Oh." Sam's shoulders sag, "Sorry for your loss."
He turns to go, but the bartender calls after him. "Sir?"
"Yeah?"
"How do you know Dean?" She fidgets with a bar rag, not making eye contact.
"He's my brother." He had stopped bothering with the elaborate lies a long time ago.
"When you find him, can tell him something for me?"
Sam's frown deepens. "Okay?"
"Can you tell him..." She looks up now, and the tears have begun to spill down her cheeks. "Could you let him know he has a little girl?"
"W-what?" Sam's nostrils flare, as he steps back toward he bar.
"Ann Marie never told him, or tried to find him." The bartender explains. "She figured that he didn't deserve to be a part of the babies life, seeing as he disappeared like that. The thing is, she died during childbirth…
She had no family, and no one knew where Dean had run off to. Now that little baby is stuck in the system, all alone. Whether her dad is a dog or not, she'd be better off with family, than living like that."
Sam's mouth opens and closes. For the first time in months, he is absolutely stumped. Finally he manages, "Her name?"
"Mary Alexandera. After Anne's mother, and after Dean's." The bartender smiles a little at this.
"I'll tell him." Sam rests his hand on hers. "Thank you."
...
The next two months are busy for Sam, as he works with renewed zeal.
Somewhere along the way, he had given up on tracking down Dean, and made Mary his number one priority.
He spends his days falsifying wills, death certificates, and a dozen other legal documents. He sells a priceless sword - not magic, just ancient- in order to put a sizable down payment on a two story gray house in a tiny suburb just outside of Topeka.
He furnishes it; making it as comfortable as he knows how.
Finally, it is time.
His hands sweat, and his legs bounce up and down nervously; as he waits for the social services worker.
She comes out of the back room, balancing a nine-month-old baby girl on her hip.
"Look, Mary." The worker coos. "This is your Uncle Samuel. He's here to take you to your new home!"
Sam's blood pressure rises, and he suppresses the urge to run; as the baby girl is placed carefully into his unpracticed arms.
She beams up at him; her painfully familiar green eyes breaking his heart all over again.
He chokes back his tears, afraid that his unchecked emotional display will have Social Services rethinking the whole arrangement.
"I have no idea what to do." His voice is shaky, despite his best efforts. "I don't even know if I'm holding her right."
"Mr. Winchester, you aced the parenting classes. You know the care she needs, and you've got diaper changing down to a science." She pats him on the shoulder kindly. "I know it's scary when you are trusted with such a precious life; but I'm confident she's in right hands."
Sam nods, his stomach all butterflies and needles.
A few minutes later, he is looking at the baby girl in the rearview of his new-completely sensible- Nissan Sentra… Couldn't be driving a baby around in that noisy Impala…
She fiddles with the toys dangling from the handle of her car seat, and he smiles warmly.
Something stronger than anything he'd ever felt weeded its way into his heart that day, and he gave into it willingly. "It's just you and me, kid." He talks, although she isn't yet able to talk back. "Sorry about that. I know I'm not much, but I'll give it everything I've got."
Mary looks up from her contented play, and laughs brightly; flapping her tiny arms with all her might.
"I'm gonna keep you safe, Mary. If it's the only good thing I ever do."